To me the book is like having a kid. I have to let it go out in the world, and great things will happen. Maybe they won't, but it has to keep on moving.

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.

Reader, you must know that an interesting fate (sometimes involving rats, sometimes not) awaits almost everyone, mouse or man, who does not conform.

Alison [McGhee] and I have known each other since the summer of 2001. One evening we were sitting around talking about how we wished we had a good story to work on. Alison said: Why don't we work on a story together? I said: A story about what? And Alison said: A story about a short girl and a tall girl.

I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults.

Everything, as you well know . . . cannot always be sweetness and light.

Open your heart. Someone will come. Someone will come for you. But first you must open your heart. (Old Doll)